Chapter 113: Cyber Joseon

A distant Eastern land, Joseon.

This country, with the largest shipbuilding industry in the world, has a somewhat unique history.

This peninsula once went by the name of the Great Korean Empire for about 40 years, had a past as a colony of Japan, and experienced a war between the North and South over the ideologies of capitalism and communism.

However, the outcome of that war was a bit different from what Amon knew.

‘As the average conscience of this world goes…’

The president of this world had no hesitation in pressing the red button.

When a mushroom cloud rose from the north of the Great Korean Empire, the world had to fall in fear of nuclear war.

Ironically, the Secretary-General and the Chairman were more rational than the U.S. president, so the war ended with the victory of the South.

In reality, they simply didn’t have the power to continue.

‘Who would have imagined that a communist state would be completely devoured by corporations?’

While China and the Soviet Union focused on the Korean War, a corporate alliance seized power.

The corporations that took control immediately abandoned the northern part of the Great Korean Empire.

Even state-owned enterprises were, at their core, still corporations.

They were merciless in their pursuit of profit.

The corporations had no interest in support or power created by ideologies, so they cleanly negotiated with the U.S. over business rights in the North.

Up until this point, the U.S. president’s mad strategy was hailed as a success, and the U.S. praised itself.

However, it took less than ten years to realize that it was a mistake.

Ten years later, the world reversed its evaluation, admitting that China and the Soviet Union had made the right choice.

A technological singularity known as cyber surgery occurred, and during the process, many alloys and metals became essential.

The problem was that those rare metals were mostly located in the northern part of the Great Korean Empire.

Thus, the Soviet Union took all the aluminum, and China took all the rare earth elements, while the U.S. gained nothing but a parasitic Great Korean Empire.

Afterward, history became a bit complicated.

China and the Soviet Union introduced the strange ideology of corporate communism, exploiting the northern people, while the U.S. took extreme measures to extract profit from the Great Korean Empire, and Japan gradually ate away at the country to suck up the remaining resources.

As a series of events overlapped, the people began to feel disillusioned with foreign powers.

At that time, the Lee dynasty, thought to be extinct, appeared and advocated for a return to the old ways.

・<Make Joseon great again!>

People supported the Lee dynasty, and somehow, the Great Korean Empire kicked out the foreign powers and became Joseon.

One hundred years later, Joseon had changed a lot.

The fences of isolationism raised during the reconstruction period were dismantled, and with the royal family’s authority being used for monopolies, abundant metal resources, and strangely high levels of education, the country became a leader in a few industries.

Automobiles, ships, and education.

No, you didn’t hear wrong, they were literally selling their education system.

When Amon first heard this, he questioned his ears.

‘Crazy country.’

Joseon was a country that exported education.

In this world, there is technology where people can plug a USB into their heads and instantly acquire knowledge and information.

A Joseon man, attracted by this technology, began exporting educational USBs worldwide, ranging from elementary school multiplication table USBs to MIT admission USBs.

Thanks to being the first to enter the market, education became one of Joseon’s main industries.

‘And now, what I’m seeing is the process of making those USBs.’

Amon recalled Joseon’s history and watched the warriors training before him.

Bwoong, boom!

Warriors drenched in their training clothes swung their swords without pause.

They were all recording their movements in front of cameras.

The recorded videos, along with several variations, would be stored and processed into data for mass-producing swordsmanship training.

While Amon silently absorbed their movements, a young man dressed in black training clothes approached.

“How do you feel, Amon? Have you thought about my proposal?”

Amon briefly looked at the young man, then turned his gaze back to the warriors still recording.

“Certainly, Kim Min’s proposal is interesting. I understand.”

“Then…!”

“However, what I’ll show you is just the art of throwing weapons.”

“Of course!”

The warrior, his eyes shining with excitement, approached Amon.

Annoyed by Kim Min’s overly enthusiastic approach, Amon took a step back.

‘Sigh… How did I get tangled up with someone like this…’

He sighed inwardly.

The scene shifts back to when Amon first arrived at Incheon Airport.

***

“Cassie. We’ve arrived.”

[How was the flight?]

“It was good, as always. How about you?”

[It was fine.]

Amon and Cassie were talking over the phone, the screen of Amon’s phone separating them.

Normally, Cassie would have come to Joseon with Amon, but due to her circumstances, she couldn’t join him immediately.

As a director at her company, she had already been away too long.

Thus, she had to go back to the U.S. to catch up on work.

[Let’s meet in four days.]

Bye bye~

Cassie ended the call, waving sweetly at her lover.

Amon also ended the call.

Just after, he felt a comforting warmth around his arm.

“Pii. Are you only taking care of Cassie?”

Sonia, showing a cute hint of jealousy, made Amon smile wryly.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Amon hurriedly embraced Sonia.

Sonia, blushing in his arms, caught the eye of the half-blind priest, who sighed deeply.

“Sigh…”

The half-blind priest knew well about the Simon sect.

The sect of Goddess worship had different branches depending on the region, and the Simon sect was quite popular in the Middle East.

It was a somewhat radical teaching, allowing polygamy and aggressive missionary work.

Though it was unfamiliar in Europe, they respected it at least.

Still, it was hard for her to accept that her son-in-law was part of this sect.

‘If he’s happy with it…’

The half-blind priest tried to convince herself several times.

Afterward, Amon and his group left Incheon Airport and headed toward Seoul.

On the way to Seoul, the half-blind priest spoke about the significance of Joseon in Goddess worship.

“Generally, when spreading the Goddess religion, missionaries are sent out.”

This tradition, which had been followed for thousands of years, was the usual way most countries started worshipping the Goddess.

Except for Joseon.

“Joseon is a curious country. Before sending missionaries, they accepted the Goddess religion on their own and requested missionaries from the Vatican.”

At the time, the Pope was overjoyed, declaring this as proof of a miracle.

There were many events before the Goddess religion became established in Joseon.

“There were times of persecution, but now that is a thing of the past.”

Currently, Joseon was the only country in East Asia where the Goddess religion was officially established.

China still rejected the Goddess religion, and Japan’s corporate worship made it difficult for the religion to take root there.

The Vatican is in an environment where it can’t help but favor Joseon.

“That’s why I emphasized it. This Hunt Legion must be stopped.”

The priest stressed that if Joseon were to become a den of demons, there would be many priests who would be heartbroken.

However, his tone was close to sarcasm and cynicism.

“Haha…”

Now Amon could understand why the priest was acting like this.

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t seem like priests would like Joseon purely for reasons of faith.

Most likely, there were impure motives involving politics and money.

Amon, unable to deny the corruption of the priests, let out a dry laugh and agreed with the priest.

While hearing such explanations, the group had already arrived in Seoul.

“Let’s take some exorcism requests before the Hunt Legion begins.”

When comparing the Hunt Legion to a military operation, cases of possession by ghosts, similar to reconnaissance missions, would dramatically increase a week before the legion rises.

The priest, with narrowed eyes, had arrived early to exorcise these ghostly reconnaissance forces.

“Once I finish the ceremony…”

“I will purify them.”

Amon nodded as if he was familiar with the process.

The usual method was for the priest to seal the ghost somewhere, then a specialist would use holy magic to permanently destroy it.

But since Amon had become acquainted with the priest, he was the one to exorcise ghosts by scorching them with overwhelming holy power.

Sonia questioned whether this method was the correct one, recalling her seminary classes, but…

“Humans die when the water they drink reaches their head, right? Holy power is like that. Ghosts, demons—if you have enough of it, you can kill them.”

“That’s mysticism.”

“Yes, they’re using mysticism.”

Amon corrected the terminology, which wasn’t necessary, but he did so anyway.

Thus, the priest performed exorcisms at various households.

“What is your name?!”

The priest performed a textbook-style exorcism, as seen in movies.

He tortured the ghost with sacred objects and Bible verses, extracting its name in the process to drive it away.

Amon and Sonia watched the priest’s ritual from behind a salt line.

When the ghost was sealed into an object, Amon would use his holy power from outside the house to burn it away.

“Phew. Thanks to Amon, this is much easier.”

Usually, after sealing, the ghost had to be carefully transported in a trunk.

But with Amon immediately handling the exorcisms on-site, it couldn’t have been more convenient.

“I’m glad I came with Amon.”

The priest smiled contentedly.

Amon demanded samgyeopsal as his payment, and the priest happily agreed.

“Anyway, it will all be covered by the 11th and activity funds.”

The priest was actually benefiting.

With his priest’s salary, he couldn’t even dream of tasting “real” pork, but now he could feast on it as much as he wanted.

The father-in-law, who had criticized him at the airport, had now turned into the proud father-in-law praising his son-in-law.

However, the priest’s happy dreams didn’t last long.

While the priest was conducting his 17th exorcism…

“The Saint has already won over you, so why do you not submit?!”

“We’re not submitting! We’re just hiding!”

“Then, in the name of the Virgin, the Saint, and the Son, tell me your name!”

Spit

“I will never submit to the authority of a whore.”

The priest instantly sensed something was very wrong.

‘Oh, Lord…’

Normally, following this procedure would cause the ghost to reveal its name.

But on rare occasions, a phenomenon occurred where brain AI infection was mistaken for possession by a ghost.

The symptoms were so similar that priests, hackers, or even doctors couldn’t always tell the difference.

Even rarer, ghosts sometimes used this to delay an AI infection, and in those cases, even exorcists couldn’t tell the difference.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

The priest was a world-renowned exorcist and knew how to differentiate between the two.

But now, the issue was not the ghost ‘itself.’

“Amon?”

“Leave it to me, Father.”

“Calm down!”

“Ah, this familiar feeling. It’s been 15 years.”

Amon recalled his past, where he purified numerous ghosts with scripture.

‘How glorious those moments were.’

Unfortunately, there was no scripture with enough mass here.

The priest’s Bible was small enough to fit in his pocket, so it couldn’t generate enough ‘holiness.’

But Amon had a substitute.

“Light creates power…”

“Amon! Please calm down! Physical force is forbidden during an exorcism!”

“I feel strong…”

Slowly, Amon wrapped the rosary around his hand and approached the possessed individual.

The priest tried to logically persuade him, but…

“Please! We haven’t even determined whether this is a ghost, an AI infection, or a mental illness!”

“Father.”

“Have you regained your senses?”

“My mother will handle it.”

Logic is for rational, civilized people.

Amon passed through the barrier the priest had set up and approached the suspected possessor.

“In the name of the Virgin…”

Crack!

“In the name of the Saint…”

Snap!

“In the name of the Holy Spirit!”

Snap!

“Ugh… please… save me… I was wrong. I’ll never do this again…”

The rebellious youth who had been mocking the exorcist begged for his life.

The kid, with crosses imprinted on his cheeks and forehead, pleaded.

Amon placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled brightly.

“See, Father?”

The priest let out a deep sigh as he watched.

“Amon.”

“Yes?”

“Unlike in the US, the police in Joseon tend to do their job properly. It’s just that most of the time, they over-investigate.”

“Ah.”

Unfortunately, what couldn’t be seen didn’t count as evidence in the law.

Therefore, whether it was possession or not didn’t matter when violence had already been used.

So, Amon and the priest were arrested by the police.

“Tsk, damn military dictatorship.”

“Don’t act like you’re some kind of democratic fighter. We were the ones who messed up.”

Amon, accustomed to the US, found himself eating rice in prison only one day after entering Joseon.